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Takayama We had planned two stops in the alps region. Due to hostels (again!) we could only stay one night in Takayama. There seemed like a lot to see and do in and around Takayama so it was a bit of a shame, but we had a lovely time there. It was also our first time in ‘real’ beds for a while! We had a family room with bunks.
Our hostel was only a short walk from the two ‘traditional buildings preservation areas’ so our first afternoon was spent wandering around the Sanmachi-suji (district). We wandered a few streets of restored/preserved merchant shops and private houses. There were several sake breweries (breweries closed, shop open) and plenty of tourist type shops. It was lovely wandering around.
The next morning we headed out again on foot starting at the Takayama-jinya, the remains of old government offices from the Edo period, and the Jinya-mae morning market. The market was small and had a mix of slightly touristy items and fruit/veges, all locally made or grown. The fruit was no cheaper than in the supermarkets really though, which was a shame as we were all after some nice (cheap!) fruit. We
wandered back through the Sanmachi preservation area to the Shimoninomachi-Ojinmachi preservation area and the Miyagawa morning market. This was similar to the Jinya-mae market, only slightly bigger.
We thought we’d follow one of the walking trails on our map, it appeared to go through a park, past cherry trees and castle ruins. As usual, a big green expanse on a map isn’t park! After trekking up a hill past houses, wondering if we were on the right path, we found a cemetery and small playground. Quite a random place for a playground really. There were good views of the mountains though in the distance, the mountains we’d be driving through later in the day.
The drive across to Matsumoto from Takayama was pretty impressive. We wound up into the mountains, up above the snowline, through tunnels, stopping at a few places to drop people off. We drove past what we thought initially was a huge lake, and I guess it was a lake, but it was where a river had been dammed. There was a series of dams along this river, getting smaller as they went down the valley. Not that the smallest one was particularly small. The
first one, Nagawado Dam, was huge!
Matsumoto So finally we get to Matsumoto and get to stretch our legs. The train really is so much better for being able to get up and walk around. The bus station is just round the corner from the train station, where our instructions for finding the hostel start from. We did discover a food court and supermarket under the bus station while looking for a toilet, handy for later.
The one negative comment we found about our hostel in Matsumoto was about trying to find it. We had a rough map and directions from the hostel itself and a decent map of town, but it was still hard finding. We took a slightly round about route getting there, but did find it in the end. In some ways it was easy as we knew it was right by the castle, but…
The hostel was nice enough, an old house converted to a small hostel (2 or 3 rooms), big room with plenty of bedding, the only heating was a kerosene heater so we couldn’t leave it on overnight. Not much of a kitchen though. Cute old room with wide
floorboards and wooden cabinetry, but only a toaster and microwave / oven combo type thing with no instructions on how to use.
The main thing we wanted to see in Matsumoto was the castle, then spend a bit of time wandering the city and further afield if we could.
Matsumoto Castle is the oldest castle in Japan still containing its original wooden donjons, and is one of only four listed as a National Treasure. It was built in the 1500’s. The castle is in a beautiful location, with a wide moat around it, cherry trees almost in blossom and a backdrop of snow-clad mountains.
As you can see from our photos, Matsumoto Castle is a stunning building. It was pretty impressive inside too. We could walk round most of the interior but only along roped off pathways in a set order. As we followed the path up and around, we passed arrow and gun slits, holes for dropping boiling oil out, and displays of weapons and artwork. The stairs up (and down) were steep and the floor well polished timber. No shoes allowed inside, so everyone polished the wood with their socks. The views were good from
the top, across the city to the mountains, though it was a little hazy. After a run around the grounds, keeping off the grass as instructed, we got some ice creams from the vending machine and refuelled before heading into town.
We’d asked earlier at the tourist office if there was a park in town that the girls could run around in. Again we were thinking grass, but were sent to what was labelled a park and was green on the map, but not even a blade of grass was growing there. We wandered the former merchant area of Nakamachi St and Nawate St across the river, some nice buildings but nothing that was really exciting.
I’m not sure what we were expecting in Japan. There is a lot of history, but some of the ‘highlights’ have, for us at least, left a lot to be desired. Maybe because a lot of the buildings were wooden and have burned down several times, so in reality they aren’t all that old. I don’t know. Perhaps we are used to European history, the buildings so much more historically in your face. The castle was great, we got to see a
lot of it but there was little inside. But these historical merchant areas, nice but we’re not sure if they’re really high on our list of things to recommend. And after them, we were reluctant to go out and explore the other former this and former that places in the guidebook and on the map.
We did wander round down town a bit, partly looking for somewhere to eat and partly because we were there. Matsumoto seems a really nice town, the centre has plenty of life in it, with shops, bars, restaurants. Unlike some towns where everything has moved to the suburbs and down town is dead. We found an awesome book shop that I managed to waste time wandering round – even though all the books were in Japanese! I did find a couple for the girls as souvenirs. Or should I say, I narrowed my choices down to one each for them!
Our last full day in Matsumoto we headed out of town to the Alps Park. This was raved to us by someone in the tourist office as a great place to take the kids with playgrounds, a zoo and open spaces for them
to run around in. There are only 2 buses each way a day so we were limited to how long we could spend there. But it wasn’t all that bad really. There were several playgrounds for different age groups, nothing really for littler kids like Katrina but she managed quite well on the bigger bits. Considering what we’d seen in various towns/cities so far, they were actually pretty good. There were some neat long slides made of hundreds of rollers rather than a long sheet of metal or plastic. The zoo, well, the kids don’t get grass and neither do the animals. The usual small cages, bored animals. I don’t know why we bother. Depressing for us as well as the inmates, and not what we want to encourage our kids to enjoy or believe in.
Next stop is Ito, on the Izu Peninsula, and time for some R&R before heading home.
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